IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 849

ON LOVE; PART XDXXXVIII

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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The Gospel of Thomas

These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.

(67) Jesus says: “Whoever knows all, if he is lacking one thing, he is (already) lacking everything.“

In the last essay we summarized and concluded our look at the sixty fifth and the sixty sixth sayings from Thomas’ Gospel and we began our look at the last one in this series, the sixty seventh. We noted that there is no like saying in the accepted gospels but we did post several sayings from the Apostle Paul that tell us the same things that we see in this saying: that regardless of how well one KNOWS the world and the way of the self in the world, unless he KNOWS his True self as well he “misses everything” as Blatz renders this saying. This IS a spiritual Truth and, while one can perhaps see a carnal import, it is bound to be nonsensical; perhaps this is why the commentators relegate this saying to a Gnostic idea regarding the all and, at the same time admit to its incomprehensibility. The Truth of every parable and of every saying of the Master should be seen in its spiritual intention; even those that dictate some way to act or react in the world as a man are intended to bring forth some spiritual action and to make a man to see the Truth of his own Life as a Soul in the world.

The ideas that we posted from Paul were all found in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians and perhaps we can see in this that they had this similar lesson to learn. Paul’s message is that the ways of the world are foolishness to God and then foolishness to the True self, the Soul, the God Within, as well. Paul’s message is that it is in ones focus upon this True self that one finds the True wisdom which is contrary to the wisdom of the world and perhaps we can summarize his words in this last saying that we posted: “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Here then in these words from the Master according to Thomas we should see this same thing; that to KNOW “the all of it“, as the Interlinear renders this, is to KNOW the things of the world and to”become a fool” in Paul’s terms concerning the worldly things IS to KNOW one’s True self and thereby True Wisdom. This IS the message from Thomas’ Gospel and this IS as well the message of so many other sayings from the Master; this IS His message which IS hidden in so many parables from the treasure of one’s heart to seeking the Kingdom of God. The Buddha has something to offer in this vein as well as He speaks about the man in the world who KNOWS “the all of it” or believes that he does; the Buddha says: “The fool who knows he is a fool is that much wiser. The fool who thinks he is wise is a fool indeed” (Dhammapada; on The Fool). Here we should see that same deception that Paul tells us of and we should be able to measure this against the idea of the man who is this fool, who thinks he is Wise because of his knowledge of “the all of it” IS “a fool indeed” and it is this man who “misses everything“.

This brings us to our next group of sayings from the Gospel of Thomas:

(68) Jesus says: “Blessed are you when(ever) they hate you (and) persecute you. But they (themselves) will find no place there where they have persecuted you.“

(69) Jesus says: “Blessed are those who have been persecuted in their heart. They are the ones who have truly come to know the Father. Blessed are those who suffer from hunger so that the belly of the one who wishes (it) will be satisfied.“

(70) Jesus says: “If you bring it into being within you, (then) that which you have will save you. If you do not have it within you, (then) that which you do not have within you [will] kill you.“

(71) Jesus says: “I will [destroy this] house, and no one will be able to build it [again].“

(72) A [person said] to him: “Tell my brothers that they have to divide my father’s possessions with me.” He said to him: “Man, who has made me a divider?” He turned to his disciples (and) said to them: “I am not a divider, am I?“

(73) Jesus says: “The harvest is plentiful, but there are few workers. But beg the Lord that he may send workers into the harvest.“

(74) He said: “Lord, there are many around the well, but there is nothing in the <well>.“

(75) Jesus says: “Many are standing before the door, but it is the solitary ones who will enter the wedding hall.“

This first part of this next saying, the sixty eighth, seems to be a cross between what we KNOW from the synoptics as a Beatitude and the more general teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. The second part here however makes little sense and this is rendered in several ways that can give one a different perspective of the intent; from our usual sources we find:

• Jesus said: “Blessed are you when you are hated and persecuted, and they will find no place where you have been persecuted” (Blatz).
• Jesus said, “Blessed are you (plur.) whenever they hate you and persecute you. And wherever they have persecuted you, they will find no place. (Layton).
• Jesus says: “Blessed are you when you are hated and persecuted; but they will not find a position in that place to which they shall pursue you!” (Doresse).
• Jesus said,  “Blessed are you when you are hated and persecuted. Wherever you have been persecuted, they will find no place” (Lambdin).
• Jesus says: “Blessed are you when(ever) they hate you (and) persecute you. But they (themselves) will find no place there where they have persecuted you” (Patterson and Robinson).
• Jesus said, “Congratulations to you when you are hated and persecuted; and no place will be found, wherever you have been persecuted” (Patterson and Meyer)
• Said-JS63 this: “You(pl) (are) ( )-blessed-ones when they-should-hate-yourselves &-( )-persecute-you(pl), and they-will-fall not upon-anywhere in-the-place where-they-persecuted you(pl) down in-him” (Interlinear).

The front end of this saying is clearer than the back end but in saying this we should understand that the meaning of these ideas fo persecuted and hated may not be as is normally understood and again, the second part is the more obscure which we can see in the renderings above. It is apparent that there is some confusion as to how to translate this; Doresse approach is very different than the others and the idea of finding no place in a place makes no sense regardless of which direction it is offered as we see in Blatz and in Layton. The Interlinear is even more obscure and the key to our right understanding of this may be in the last idea of “down in him” There is scant commentary on this saying:

• Comparing Thomas to Matthew and Luke, Koester finds that the Thomas form is more original: “The phrase ‘and cast out your name as evil on account of the Son of man’ is certainly Lukan; it is missing in the parallel passage Matt 5:11. Moreover, the reference to persecution has disappeared in the Lukan redaction of this saying, but is preserved in Matt 5:11.” (Ancient Christian Gospels, p. 89).
• Gerd Ludemann writes: “The meaning [of v. 2] is unclear. Is this talk of the lack of success of the ones who are acting? But in what sense? Perhaps it helps to note that ‘place’ also appears in other passages of the Gospel of Thomas (4.1; 24.1; 60.6; 64.12) and each time denotes the place of salvation. In that case v. 2 says that the persecutors have forfeited salvation.” (Jesus After 2000 Years, p. 625).

Mr. Ludemann rightfully says that this is unclear and we do not see any merit in his guess that this may be related to salvation. The other comment is but an assumption based in comparison to the sayings found in Matthew and Luke which we see as:

• “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake” (Matthew 5:10-11).
• “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake” (Luke 6:22).
• “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44).

In Matthew above we have this similar saying spread across two verses and we should see the idea of righteousness in the first verse as explaining the ideas of the second. This should not be seen as persecution as the church see this, that one is persecuted because of one’s Christian beliefs but rather that one IS persecuted because of his righteousness, because of his right standing with God and his sense of Peace and of Love. We explored some of these ideas on persecution and on righteousness early on in our blog posts, In the Words of Jesus part 16, and our ideas here are similar today; this persecution can be seen in the ideas of the second verse, in the idea of revile which we can see in a similar tone to hate as it is used by Thomas and the idea of being spoken about in an untrue way and, while the Master tells us that it is for his sake, we should see the reality in the idea that the one persecuted is following the Master and living by His example. This IS the nature of righteousness, that we keep His words and do as we KNOW to do from a spiritual perspective. In this sixteenth post we noted that this idea of persecution can come from many places and in many ways but the reasoning should be seen as we cite here which we can say as that the disciple and the aspirant who are the righteous and those striving to be so, are removed from the everyday ways of the world and are in another zone if you will. Using some ideas from our Tibetan brother we say:

A disciple is one who is transferring his consciousness out of the personal into the impersonal, and during the transition stage much of difficulty and of suffering is necessarily endured. These difficulties arise from various causes:—

• a. The disciple’s lower self, which rebels at being transmuted.
• b. A man’s immediate group, friends, or family, who rebel at his growing impersonality. They do not like to be acknowledged as one with him on the life side, and yet separate from him where desires and interests lie. Yet the law holds good, and only in the essential life of the soul can true unity be cognized. In the discovery as to what is form lies much of sorrow for the disciple, but the road leads to perfect union eventually.‡

Here we can see a picture of the righteous man and the man who IS becoming righteous and if we can extend the discomfort that we read here concerning a man’s immediate group, friends, or family to the world at large and their view of the man, we can get a better sense of the reality of this persecution. In this all we should see this same dynamic at play in the way that the Apostle Luke frames this Beatitude and we should try to realize that is IS most likely those who do KNOW a man who will ‘persecute’ him, one should also see a relationship to this idea in the Master’s saying that “A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house” (Matthew 13:57). Yes there are stronger persecutions as were suffered by the Master and some of His apostles and disciples and in every case we should see that it IS NOT because of the Master or one’s choice of religion alone, it is because the man has set himself apart and IS following the ways of the Lord.

We have included in our bible references the words of the Master from the Sermon that tell us to Love our neighbor, and our enemy and those who may hate and persecute us and in this is the positive side of this saying from the Beatitudes and from Thomas. Here we read that even while we may be blessed in this state of ‘persecution’, we must continue in Love and perhaps see the role of the Apostle Stephen whose story we can read in the Book of Acts and in In the Words of Jesus part 674. We should understand here from the perspective of Thomas’s saying that the idea of righteousness must be assumed, that otherwise there is no spiritual benefit to being persecuted or hated. Here we should try to see that Thomas is full aware of this and it is in this awareness that he does not think to include the parameter of righteousness and keeping the words of the Master.

This next part is the mystery for us as it is for the commentators above but we can try to see some ideas to resolve this in the use of this idea of righteousness which we believe is assumed by Thomas in the saying that we have above. Using Doresse’s rendering of these words, but they will not find a position in that place to which they shall pursue you!” we can remove the idea of there being two places; either the place where one is persecuted and and the place that the persecutor can not find or that the persecutor will not find the place where one was persecuted. Neither of these make much sense and the ideas themselves DO NOT tend to any logical end, spiritual or otherwise. In Doresse however we find the idea of position which IS NOT the same as place but can rather be seen as one’s relative standing against another and here in our saying this could be seen to be the righteous against the man or eschews such righteousness. Here the position of the righteous CAN NOT be achieved by the persecutor; he will not find a position of righteousness as he pursues the disciple in his righteousness; hence the whole of the persecution is for naught.

Let us try to may this clearer by example: the disciple is going about his business in righteousness; teaching, perhaps healing and definitely living right; another comes across this disciple, likely one that is known to the disciple, and takes objection to the way of the disciple. Here the other sees the Truth of this righteousness but CAN NOT accept this in his carnally focused mind and he lashes out from a position of inferiority in order to assert his superiority. In so doing we are shown that this other, this persecutor, will not find the Truly superior position because he DOES NOT understand it; he is merely pursuing the disciple as another in the world who he perhaps sees as acting in an outwardly superior way. We can see no easier way for us to express this.

Taking the whole of the idea away from the physical helps us to make sense of this and if we read again the ideas from the Interlinear, we can see that although those words make little sense, the idea of a physical place need NOT be assumed. We should see this same idea in Luke’s version of the Beatitude as the disciple is reviled or hated, he is shunned or separated from the company of the persecutor, he is reproached or spoken badly of in person by the one who believes that he is superior and he is spoken of badly to others. And ALL of this for the sake of the Son of man, ALL this because the disciple IS keeping His words and living as the Master says as He tells us to: “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). And finally, ALL this because the disciple and the aspirant are striving to ever greater spiritual reality and are standing out above others who perhaps believe themselves to be as good; it is these that persecute those who follow the Master’s admonition to “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). We close for today with these words from the Apostle John which may shine some additional light upon this idea of the one who persecutes:

“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John 3:19-21).

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

Aspect of God	Potency	Aspect of Man	In Relation to the Great Invocation	In relation to the Christ
GOD, The Father	Will or Power	Spirit or Life	Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN	Life
Son, The Christ	Love and Wisdom	Soul or Christ Within	Heart of God	Truth
Holy Spirit	Light or Activity	Life Within	Mind of God	Way

Note on the Quote of the Day

This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.

As the Lord’s Prayer is given to us by the Christ for our use 2000 years ago, the Great Invocation, according to esoteric sources, was give from Him as well and whether we believe that this IS True or not we should look at this prayer as containing the same selfless invocative style as does the Lord’s Prayer and then any that are modeled after their style. We again encourage ALL to read and reread this Great Invocation and our comments as in these words can be found keys to our spiritual reality.

From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.

From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men–
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.

This prayer is a part of our Prayers and Meditations section and there is much information about it there and in our discussion of it in the Quote of the Day section of In the Words of Jesus parts 128-132

The above Invocation or Prayer does not belong to any person or group but to all Humanity. The beauty and the strength of this Invocation lies in its simplicity, and in its expression of certain central truths which all men, innately and normally, accept—the truth of the existence of a basic Intelligence to Whom we vaguely give the name of God; the truth that behind all outer seeming, the motivating power of the universe is Love; the truth that a great Individuality came to earth, called by Christians, the Christ, and embodied that love so that we could understand; the truth that both love and intelligence are effects of what is called the Will of God; and finally the self-evident truth that only through humanity itself can the Divine Plan work out.

Like the Lord’s Prayer, this invocation is a World Prayer which is as all that a prayer is intended to be. It is a prayer for the uplifting of the Human Family out of the mire of materialism and selfishness. The Lord’s Prayer asks nothing for the individual praying it but asks that its benefits be for US and for WE which is why it was given by the Christ as a prayer and as a model over 2000 years ago. This invocation is also attributed to the Christ who, as He promised, has never left us; He, through channels that we do not readily understand, has Himself instructed His disciples to distribute this prayer and to encourage its use as a world prayer and as an aid in preparing the world for His return.

The first three stanzas of this prayer should be understood as reflecting the effective potencies of the Trinity which is God and which, when brought down to an individual level, the Trinity which is Man. His Will, His Love and His Light we should seen as the Potent Powers of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ¹⁴ The Gospel of Thomas; Translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson; http://gnosis.org/
• ‡  Initiation, Human and Solar by Alice A. Baily; © 1951 by Lucis Trust